For the first time, scientists created functional brain-like tissue without animal-derived materials or added biological coatings. The work was led by Iman Noshadi at the University of California, Riverside, and the study appears in Advanced Functional Materials. Prince David Okoro is the lead author.
The team made a scaffold from polyethylene glycol (PEG), a normally inert polymer, and reshaped it into a textured, porous matrix. They flowed water, ethanol, and PEG through nested glass capillaries and used a flash of light to stabilise the separating streams and lock the pores in place. The pores let oxygen and nutrients circulate and feed donated stem cells, which then organize into neural networks and can show donor-specific activity.
Research began in 2020. The scaffold is about two millimetres wide. Funding came from UC Riverside startup funds and the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine. The model may help study traumatic brain injury, stroke, and Alzheimer’s, reduce animal use, and the team is working to scale the system and link organ cultures.
Difficult words
- scaffold — a structure that supports tissue growth
- polymer — a large molecule made of many small units
- porous — having many small holes that let things pass
- capillary — a very small tube or blood vesselcapillaries
- stabilise — to make something steady or keep it fixed
- stem cell — a basic body unit that can become other typesstem cells
- neural network — connected nerve cells that send signalsneural networks
Tip: hover, focus or tap highlighted words in the article to see quick definitions while you read or listen.
Discussion questions
- How could a brain-like model help scientists study diseases such as stroke or Alzheimer’s?
- What are the advantages of using materials that are not animal-derived in research?
- Do you think linking organ cultures could change medical research? Why or why not?
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